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MQA partners with Universal Music

Music technology company MQA and Universal Music Group (UMG) have announced a multi-year agreement to help deliver hi-res audio to mainstream audiences.

The partnership will see UGM’s extensive catalogue of MQA-encoded master recordings, making some of the world’s most celebrated artists and labels available for the first time for hi-res streaming.

The announcement comes shortly after the launch of a cross-industry marketing campaign ‘Stream the Studio’ at CES in Las Vegas last month. The campaign was spearheaded by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) to raise awareness about the advantages of hi-res audio streaming.

Mike Jbara (pictured), chief executive of MQA, said: “We’re very pleased to be working with Universal Music to achieve our goal of moving studio-quality sound into the mainstream. Universal’s timeless catalogue and impressive artist roster will fuel music streaming services worldwide and enable the premium listening experience for all music fans.”

Michael Nash, executive vice-president of digital strategy at UMG, added: “The promise of hi-res audio streaming is becoming a reality, with one service already in the market and several more committed to launching this year. With MQA, we are working with a partner whose technology is among the best solutions for streaming hi-res audio, and one that doesn’t ask music fans to compromise on sound quality for convenience. We’re looking forward to working with Mike and his team at MQA to make our industry-leading roster of artists and recordings available to music fans in the highest quality possible.”